1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to devices for concentrating the position of fuel in barbecues and charcoal grills and, more particularly, it relates to devices which concentrates fuel within a barbecue or grill to conserve fuel during use of the barbecue or charcoal grill.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Barbecue and charcoal grills are a popular choice for preparing tasty and nutritious food for eating. The popularity of these grills continues to increase due to the health conscious public realizing the benefits of grill cooking.
Many charcoal grills are designed to prepare and cook many food items at a time. However, more often than not, the grill owner will only be cooking for two or less people such that much of the actual cooking surface is not utilized on any one occasion. Unfortunately, much fuel or charcoal tends to be wasted since, until the present invention, charcoal briquettes or other fuel sources must be poured into the grill, bunched beneath the food to be cooked or spread around, and partially wet with a flammable charcoal lighter fluid to initiate combustion of the charcoal. Because heat tends to rise vertically and the design of most grills impedes air flow, it is difficult to get a charcoal fire going with only a thin layer of briquettes. The usual result of such an attempt is a vast mass of flames which consumes an excessive amount of fluid with most of the heat being lost and wasted.
In order to direct the heat, sometimes the body of the grill is filled to a greater depth than just a thin layer of briquettes. To obtain this, charcoal is poured into the grill to obtain a double or triple layer of briquettes in the grill. While this tends to be more efficient for lighting purposes than a thin layer of charcoal since the fluid is dispersed down through several layers of briquettes, much charcoal is wasted.
With the above methods as described, it would not be possible for the grill user to load the entire grill with charcoal in a single loading and only utilize a portion at a time for multiple cookings. Each time, it will usually be necessary to clean the used coals from the grill and reload the grill with charcoal. Needless to say, such procedures are very time consuming, very messy and are, oftentimes, avoided by the grill user.
The Logan, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 4,592,334, attempts to solve the problems as described above by providing a charcoal concentrating implement to be placed in an outdoor grill. Unfortunately, the implement as described in the Logan, Jr. patent does not allow the entire grill to be loaded with charcoal such that the user can selectively utilize only certain portions at any given time. In fact, in the perforated implement of the Logan, Jr. patent, if the grill is loaded with charcoal, the charcoal adjacent the implement will tend to ignite due to the heat passing through the perforations. Furthermore, the implement of the Logan, Jr. patent which is a solid member, the implement is not self-supporting but instead must rely on additional hardware. Furthermore, the implement of the Logan, Jr. patent only creates one enclosure for charcoal grill which will not allow the entire grill to be loaded with charcoal for later cookings.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a fuel concentrating and conserving device for charcoal grills which will serve as a firestop between the ignited charcoal and unignited charcoal within the grill such that a grill owner must only periodically load and clean the grill after numerous cookings.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a fuel concentrating and conserving device for charcoal grills which is self-supporting or free-standing within the grill.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a fuel concentrating and conserving device for charcoal grills which is adjustable to grills of different sizes and shapes while maintaining an effective firestop between the ignited charcoal and the unignited charcoal.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a fuel concentrating and conserving device for charcoal grills which divides the grill into a plurality of fuel enclosures such that a chimney effect is created by igniting the fuel in at least one of the enclosures to more efficiently burn the charcoal and cook the food.